And then they came for the cheese…

A few weeks ago I wrote about dairy production and its impact on the environment. I had quite a few comments from friends and family about that post, and almost all of them were variations of “no! not the cheese!”

A lot of people would find it easier to give up meat than to give up cheese, so I think I should say a bit more about it. And the first thing to say is don’t panic – you don’t have to give it up if you don’t want to. Living responsibly isn’t about giving things up all the time. It’s a matter of making informed choices. In the case of cheese, that may mean less or different. The future needn’t be bleak and cheese-less.

Let’s start with why it matters. Cheese is a climate change problem because it’s made with milk. Milk comes from cows, and there are quite…